Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Release Date: 27/09/12Publisher: HeadlineSYNOPSIS:
As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco spends more of her time mixing potions and retrieving pixies than she does sniffing out supernatural bad guys that slip over from the preternatural beyond. It is DJ's eccentric boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, who is tasked with protecting the city. But when Hurricane Katrina hammers the city's fragile levees, it unleashes more than just flood waters. As the winds howl and Lake Pontchartrain surges, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld start to crumble away ...Now the dead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering soldiers sent to help the city recover. To make it worse, Gerald St. Simon has gone missing, the wizards' Elders have assigned a grenade-toting asshat as DJ's new partner, and the pirate Jean Lafitte - who has an impressive libido for a 200-year-old - wants her to walk his plank. If she is going to survive, DJ will have to learn that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies can be found in unlikely places ...and that duty mixed with love creates one bitter gumbo.

REVIEW:
To be honest I was pretty sold on this title by the book blurb and I was lucky enough to be able to get the first three to read back to back. Add to this the fact that I’d considered using a certain pirate within as a principle player in one of my own projects and I was more than interested to see what would occur within.

What unfurls, for me is a book that sadly starts off very slow. The introduction to the characters feels not only a little forced but also awkward without it feeling like its natural progression to the story overall. And yet, as you make your way through, the authors idea’s clearly come through as the mysterious plot wends its way into the readers imagination. It is a story that takes some getting used to and I hope that after an awkward beginning that the series will go from strength to strength.

Release Date: 22/11/12Publisher: HeadlineSYNOPSIS:
The hurricane may have passed, but in New Orleans the storm rages on. With the borders between the city and the Otherworld destroyed, new and dangerous species have swarmed into the waterways. There is talk of war between rival clans in the darkest depths of Louisiana's swamps and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the peace. When wizards start dying and it become apparent that the waters of the mighty Mississippi itself have been poisoned, DJ will have to really focus if she is to find out who - or what - is responsible. And with an undead suitor, the amorous pirate Jean Lafitte, on her back, that isn't going to be easy...It's anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans series continues.

REVIEW:
OK after a worrying start with the first book, I was a little apprehensive at starting the second s after all, in any series its usually the second that’s the make or break, so preparing with a selection of reading supplies (comfy blanket, extra pillows and of course snackages) I picked up the title and turned the first page in apprehension.

For me, this book is far stronger than the original, the characters grow in not only strength but emotionally and when added to a whole new set of problems that only Louisiana can host (and it was wonderfully inventive) all round generated a story that had me turning the pages until I finished the title in the early hours of the morning (I say early hours, its dependent as to what time you call sun-up. LOL)

All round a book that I really enjoyed and one that left me demanding the third when I’d captured up on some sleep.

Release Date: 15/08/13Publisher: HeadlineSYNOPSIS:
New Orleans is under attack from a copycat who is mimicking the crimes of a serial killer who terrorized the streets almost a century earlier. Drusilla Jaco could happily live without the advances of the 200-year-old undead pirate Jean Lafitte, but through him DJ learns the terrible truth: this is no copycat - someone has resurrected the original Axeman of New Orleans. And to make matters worse, the attacks aren't random at all. He's after her. So there's an undead serial killer on her back. A loup-garou who's going loco. The Elders are insisting on magic lessons from the world's most annoying wizard. And former partner - and sometime Neanderthal - Alex Warin has just turned up on DJ's to-do list. DJ is about to discover that life in Louisiana has more twists and turns than the mighty Mississippi.

REVIEW:
Having recently been glued to American Horror Story: Coven, I was interested to see what an author would do with the Axeman tale from New Orleans. What occurred within was a tale that was gory, had some solid twists and when added to our principle heroes more than hooked you from the get go.

Add to the mix some wonderful turns of phrase, a great overall arc alongside great prose and pace and for me it’s a series that keeps capturing my imagination. Magical.

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